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| Investing in the Power of Women and Girls! |
Help Us Spread the Word: Our 2018 Letter of Interest (LOI) Process is Open!
Our online LOI process opened on Tuesday, January 2 and will close at 5:00 pm on Friday, January 26.
which will be most relevant to those organizations invited to submit full proposals later this spring
We can't wait to see where organizations serving women and girls all over the state are focusing their time and energy in these exciting (and exhausting) times.
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A Message from the Executive Director
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Welcome to 2018! We've barely begun and already cracked records for cold, making it doubly hard for m
any
o
f us to honor
our
hard-thought and determined
New Year Resolutions
. We make them, even though all evidence shows we
aren't great with
follow through. Of course, it never hurts to say you want to be healthier this year, lose some weight,
exercise
more, quit
smoking, etc. These are all good things, and we should all do them; the trick is making goals
accessi
ble
given our real lives. I'm going to leave the "get healthier" goals until next month, Heart Health Month.
For this year, I'd like to suggest some different resolutions, different goals. With all that has gone on in the world of women in the past year and more, what about really making a concerted effort to become part of the solution - to invest in the power of women and girls
. You are busy, I know. We
are
all busy,
and when we give
of
ourselves,
we also receive.
I
resolve, and ask you to consider, to do more to lift women's and girls' voices
in the community, business, the Legislature, Congress - all the time, everywhere. How? Share your time, talents, and treasure.
Here are a few ideas:
-
Do at least one nice thing for another woman or girl every day. It can be as simple as saying "Thank you," "Good work," or "Hey, everyone, Sally just made a good point; Sally, please say more about that." Yes, lift u
p
the women around you, and we all are lifted.
-
Become a mentor or
sponsor to a younger woman in your field.
We know
it makes a difference in women's career tracks, success, and even pay. Share your expertise - about your
work and about making it in business. #
WomenMeanBusiness
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Volunteer with an organization you are passionate about. You can help at an event, plan the event, join the Board of Directors, and many things in between. Not sure where to start? We have
fantastic
grantees who would love your help, but don't stop there.
There
are
organizations
looking for volunteers in every community in every corner of Maine. Talk to folks, google it, make a commit
ment
. You will be glad you did - and the whole community will benefit.
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Donate to the issues you care about. Don't wait until December, then try to figure out how to stuff all your favorite causes into a paycheck or two. Sign up to give something every month, assuring your favorite
organiza
tion
has money year-round. At the Fund we have a Kindred Spirits program, and last year it alone raised
over $10,000
. In 2018, our goal is
to double that
, so sign up today. And we're not alone
- most organizations now
have the type of donation platform that can do this for you, just check
. If that's not your thing, think about who you really want to give to, how much, and when, and spread your giving (your philanthropy) throughout the year.
This year, make the commit
ment
to lift the voices of women and girls in your communities; all of your communities. We all have the power to make a difference
when we do this together.
C
loser to home, our 2018 Annual Grant process is underway - Kimberly has more below. The
Grants Committee
is
so excited to read your Letters of Interest. It not only shows us how hard you are
working
around the state, but
also
let
s
all of
us understand the really innovative and interesting things
people
are doing every day.
Until next time,
Megan Hannan
Executive Director
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| All the Rage |
In case you hadn't heard, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), an agency of the Federal Government, announced in late 2017 that policy analysts at the CDC should avoid using the following words in official documents being prepared for the 2019 budget: fetus,
vulnerable, entitlement, science-based, evidence-based, diversity and transgender. The Washington Post reported that
analysts have been instructed to use the phrase, "CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes," instead of terms like "evidence-based" or "science-based." We'll be interested to see whose "community standards and wishes" they're talking about!
We all deserve the right to define ourselves, control our own bodies, and access evidence-based and science-based health care and education.
If the CDC mandate has you wanting to volunteer or give to non-profit organizations providing accessible and vital reproductive and trans healthcare in Maine, check out
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England
,
Maine Family Planning
or
Mabel Wadsworth Center
(who received a grant from us this year to support greater financial accessibility, especially for members of the trans community, through
MableCare
).
We are grateful that these organizations are celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade this January by continuing to provide evidence-based sexuality education, accessible abortion care, and trans care here in Maine. Their work ensures our right to self-determination.
We are thrilled to be funding
MaineTransNet to
visit rural counties and provide outreach and education to community members looking to be a trans ally. MaineTransNet has created a new
Name Change Fund which relies on individual donations from community members like you. We hope you'll be as impressed as we are at all the work MaineTransNet is doing to support trans veterans and members of the trans community wishing to serve in the U.S. Military. Again, we celebrate and thank MaineTransNet for ensuring our right to self-determination.
Stay tuned to see what
EqualityMaine's youth leaders raise their voice about when they visit Maine's State House later this spring; we're thrilled to be supporting that work, too.
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| In a Flash: What is Driving Our Work |
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
Driven by our mission to transform the lives of Maine women and girls through strategic grantmaking, community engagement and support to nonprofit organizations dedicated to social change, the Maine Women's Fund has been thrilled to partner with the organizations below, where amazing Women and/or Girls of Color are playing leading roles! Click on the links at the bottom of the page to learn more about the organizations we supported through our 2017 grants and their phenomenal work to improve the lives of women and girls across Maine.
Rise and Shine Youth Retreat
working with
For Us, By Us
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On behalf of the staff and board of the Maine Women's Fund, thank you for
investing in the power of women and girls!
Office location:
74 Lunt Road, Suite 100, Falmouth, ME 04105
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The Maine Women's Fund thanks MaineShare for its ongoing support. MaineShare makes it easy to donate to more than 30 statewide organizations working every day to make Maine a better place to live. For more information, please visit the
website.
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